Tom Wilson is a second-liner! (Caps Outsider)
After losing back-to-back games in regulation for the first time since March 2015, a span of 99 games, Capitals head coach Barry Trotz shook things up at practice. The major changes include both TJ Oshie and Andre Burrakovsky being moved to the third line and Tom Wilson being moved from the fourth line to the second.
The Caps’ penalty kill has struggled early this season. The team isn’t happy. Daniel Winnik, who has been a staple on the penalty kill, appears to be scratched against the Canucks on Saturday in favor of Brett Connolly.
Vancouver opened the season winning three straight, while never having a lead. However, they have lost their last four. The Canucks will be tired as they will be playing the back-end of a back-to-back series. The flip side is this will be the Caps’ first game in a back-to-back set and the second of three games in five days.
While there are some concerns about the Caps so far, particularly the last two games, they’re not even ten games into the season yet, so there is plenty of time to correct things, and even experiment.
The lines from practice on Friday are as follows:
Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom-Justin Williams
Marcus Johansson-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Tom Wilson
Andre Burakovsky-Lars Eller-T.J. Oshie
Zach Sanford-Jay Beagle-Brett Connolly
The defense parings have been the same. We should expect to see Taylor Chorney on Sunday against the Calgary Flames. Philipp Grubauer will start on Saturday so expect Braden Holtby on Sunday.
